The Sandman

181

Reidar is gasping for breath. He’s pinned to the wall. The pain from the knife is excruciating. It feels as if that one burning point is all that exists. The warm blood is steaming as it runs down his body.

He sees Jurek vanish right after the shot. David is lying completely still in the snow. There’s no way of telling how badly wounded he is.

To the east the sky has brightened slightly and Reidar can see Saga Bauer in a window on the first floor.

It had been her who had fired and missed.

Reidar is breathing far too quickly, his heart is racing and he realises that he’s going into shock as a result of the loss of blood.

Mikael coughs, puts a hand to his ear and gets unsteadily to his feet.

‘Dad...’

He has no time to say more before Jurek is back. He knocks him down again, then grabs him by one leg and starts to drag him off into the darkness.

‘Mikael,’ Reidar screams.

Jurek drags his son off through the snow. Mikael is flailing with his arms, trying to find something to grab hold of. They disappear towards the rapids, Reidar can only see them as pale shadows now.

Jurek came here to get Mikael, he thinks in confusion.

It’s still far too dark for Saga to be able to tell the figures apart from her vantage point in the window.

Reidar howls as he grabs the handle of the knife and pulls. It’s stuck fast. He pulls again, shifting the angle down slightly to get a better grip, and it cuts into his flesh.

Warm blood runs over the handle and his fingers.

He screams and pulls again, and finally the point comes free from the wall behind him. The knife slips out and Reidar falls forward onto the snow. The pain is so bad that he’s sobbing as he crawls forward and tries to get to his feet.

‘Mikael!’

He stumbles over to the burning flare in the snow, picks it up and feels the sparks prick his hand. He almost falls but manages to keep his balance. He looks towards the open water of the rapids, and can just make out Jurek’s figure against the snow. Reidar starts to follow them, but has no energy left. He knows that Jurek is planning to drag Mikael into the forest and vanish with him for good.